LIFE DIGEST: Nebraska bars ‘telemed’ abortions
- May 31, 2011 -
Nebraska Gov. David Heineman signed into law May 26 a bill to prohibit “telemedicine,” or Webcam, abortions in the state.
The Republican governor’s signature made Nebraska the fourth state this year to enact legislation to address the abortion industry’s effort to expand its business through videoconferencing. Kansas, Oklahoma and Arizona also have adopted measures to prevent the relatively new practice.
Also in this edition: Survey: 61 percent say most abortions should be outlawed, Judge upholds Ohio regulation of RU 486, New Zealand parents upset about teen daughters’ secret abortions, State closes New Orleans abortion clinic, and Abortion doctor reprimanded in third state.
The Nebraska law requires a woman using the two-step drug RU 486 for an abortion to take it in the physical presence of a doctor, thereby preventing a “telemed” abortion.
Planned Parenthood initiated “telemed” abortions in Iowa nearly three years ago and threatened to export the technique to its centers in the neighboring state of Nebraska. As used by Planned Parenthood, a doctor in Des Moines or another city counsels by means of videoconferencing a woman seeking an abortion at another Planned Parenthood center in the state. After he reviews sonogram images and visits with the woman via videoconferencing, the physician can dispense the two-step abortion drug to her by pressing a computer button, thereby opening a drawer from which the woman in the remote clinic may remove the pills.
Heineman signed the bill into law only two days after the Nebraska Legislature passed it in a 38-9 vote.
“Huge kudos to the Nebraska Legislature for stopping [Webcam] abortions before they get started in our state,” said Julie Schmit-Albin, executive director of Nebraska Right to Life, in a written release.
In other state action:
- Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, vetoed three pro-life bills in two days: (1) On May 24, a measure in a larger Health and Human Services bill that would have prohibited human cloning for both research and reproductive purposes; (2) on May 25, a bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks’ gestation based on scientific evidence a baby in the womb experiences pain by that point, and, (3) also on May 25, a proposal to prohibit state funding of elective abortions.
- The New Hampshire Senate voted 17-7 May 26 for legislation to require a parent to be notified before his under-age daughter undergoes an abortion, the National Right to Life Committee reported. The House of Representatives earlier passed the bill in a 256-102 roll call.
- The Tennessee Legislature passed unanimously as part of the budget a measure mandating all federal Title X family planning money be used only by local, county or municipal health departments, thereby eliminating $1.2 million for Planned Parenthood affiliates in Memphis and Nashville, according to Tennessee Right to Life. Legislators also approved a ban on “telemed,” or Webcam, abortions, with the Senate voting 29-1 and the House 86-6.
Survey: 61 percent say most abortions should be outlawed
More than 60 percent of Americans say abortion should be outlawed in most circumstances, according to a Gallup public opinion poll released May 23.
The survey, conducted May 5-8, showed 61 percent of the public believe abortion should be legal in “only a few” or no situations. The poll found 37 percent say abortion should be legal in most or all circumstances.
In what would seem to be a contradiction, 49 percent of Americans describe themselves as “pro-choice” on abortion, while 45 percent say they are “pro-life.” The new finding is a significant reversal from 2009, when 51 percent said they are “pro-life” and 42 percent said they are “pro-choice.” Last year, 45 percent said they are “pro-choice,” while 47 percent said they are “pro-life.”
In another finding, 51 percent say abortion is “morally wrong,” and 39 percent believe it is “morally acceptable.”
Judge upholds Ohio regulation of RU 486
A federal judge upheld May 24 an Ohio law requiring that use of the abortion drug RU 486 follow federal guidelines.
Planned Parenthood had challenged the 2004 law, blocking its enforcement. Southern District Judge Susan Dlott said the law’s requirement that administration of RU 486 by abortion providers must abide by the rules of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not unduly burden women and was not unconstitutionally vague, according to Americans United for Life.
Some abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, have administered the two pills that constitute RU 486 in “off-label” ways. They have given them beyond the seven-week limit for pregnancies and have told women to insert the second pill vaginally instead of orally. Seven of the eight American women who are known to have died after using RU 486 used the drug vaginally.
“With respect to protecting women’s health, the Ohio General Assembly got it right, and the abortion industry didn’t,” said Mike Gonidakis, executive director of Ohio Right to Life, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
New Zealand parents upset about teen daughters’ secret abortions
New Zealand parents have become “absolutely livid” after learning schools have helped their under-age daughters hide abortions from them, according to a May 15 report in the Sunday Star-Times.
“I was horrified,” said Helen (not her real name), the mother of a 16 year old who had a secret abortion that was scheduled by a school counselor, “horrified that she’d had to go through that on her own, and horrified her friends and [counselors] had felt that she shouldn’t talk to us.”
New Zealand law requires counselors to have the permission of the child before telling the parents or school of the pregnancy, a lawyer told the Star-Times, an Auckland newspaper. In 2004, the New Zealand Parliament defeated an amendment requiring parental notification before a girl under 16 could have an abortion, the newspaper reported.
State closes New Orleans abortion clinic
The state of Louisiana has closed a New Orleans abortion clinic for the time being.
The Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) revoked the license of Gentilly Medical Clinic for Women after an unannounced inspection May 6 revealed the center did not provide the nursing services required by its patients, The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported May 26. The revocation requires the closing of the clinic, and it will remain closed while it appeals the action.
Benjamin Clapper, executive director of Louisiana Right to Life, commended the DHH for its “continued work to ensure that women are protected. We hope that this revocation will mean the end of the notorious Gentilly abortion facility.”
Abortion doctor reprimanded in third state
Utah has become the third state to block abortion doctor Nicola Riley from performing the lethal procedures.
Riley agreed with the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing that she would not perform abortions while she awaits a final disciplinary ruling from the state of Maryland, according to LifeNews.com. A Maryland board suspended Riley’s medical license after she injured a woman during an abortion at an Elkton, Md., clinic and failed to call emergency personnel, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Sept. 3. She had been traveling from Utah to Maryland every other week to do abortions.
In April, Riley relinquished her medical license in Wyoming after it was discovered she had tried to hide her criminal record, LifeNews.com reported.
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